American Jazz Piano Great Ahmad Jamal Dead at 92

In this file photo taken on August 04, 2016 US jazz pianist and composer, Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones) performs during a concert in the Marciac Jazz Festival in Marciac. (AFP)
In this file photo taken on August 04, 2016 US jazz pianist and composer, Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones) performs during a concert in the Marciac Jazz Festival in Marciac. (AFP)
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American Jazz Piano Great Ahmad Jamal Dead at 92

In this file photo taken on August 04, 2016 US jazz pianist and composer, Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones) performs during a concert in the Marciac Jazz Festival in Marciac. (AFP)
In this file photo taken on August 04, 2016 US jazz pianist and composer, Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones) performs during a concert in the Marciac Jazz Festival in Marciac. (AFP)

Ahmad Jamal, a towering and influential US pianist, composer and band leader whose career spanned more than seven decades and helped transform jazz, pop and hip-hop, has died at age 92.

Jamal released about 80 albums, building friendships and influence with greats such as Miles Davis, and was sampled by rappers including Nas, helping to lure a larger pop audience to jazz.

He won myriad awards over the course of his career, including France's prestigious Ordre des Arts and des Lettres in 2007 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

Born Frederick Russell Jones in a humble suburb of Pittsburgh in 1930, he first sat down at a piano when he was three years old and began studying music seriously when he was seven.

He converted to Islam and changed his name when he was 20, though he avoided the more political side of the era's Black Power movement, putting his focus on a "search for peace".

The jazz scene he entered in the 1950s was often characterised by a hectic, explosive style.

By contrast, Jamal's playing was spartan and reserved, surprising his audience with long empty stretches, sudden breaks and romantic flourishes.

It took a while for people to catch on.

"His musical concept was one of the great innovations of the time, even if its spare, audacious originality was lost on many listeners," the New Yorker wrote last year.

But many were paying close attention.

Though they never collaborated, Davis often paid homage to Jamal. In his autobiography, Davis wrote: "(Jamal) knocked me out with his concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement, and the way he phrased notes and chords and passages."

He worked in a trio -- most notably with bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier with whom he recorded his breakthrough album, 1958's "Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing: But Not for Me", which stayed on the Billboard magazine charts for more than 100 weeks, becoming one of the best-selling instrumental records of its time.

'Alternative universe'

US music critic Ted Gioia wrote that Jamal "opened up an alternative universe of sound, freer and less constrained than what we had heard before. The rules of improvised music were different after he appeared on the scene."

"The Awakening" from 1970 developed the sound -- "a fine example of Jamal's stately and understated elegance" in the words of Pitchfork -- but it also had a long afterlife, influencing hip-hop artists in the coming decades, sampled most famously by Nas on his 1990s hit "The World is Yours".

Jamal never stopped experimenting, bringing in explosive percussionist Manolo Badrena in the 1990s and still recording critically lauded work into his late 80s.

"I live an exciting life, and when you live an interesting life, you keep discovering," Jamal told AFP during a visit to France in 2012.

"Musicians blossom and build themselves. Some basic things are still there in my music, the melodic sense for example, but the density of sound has changed with age, and the rhythmic part has become more elaborate," he added.

His death, reportedly from prostrate cancer, was confirmed to US media by his family.



Brazilian DJ Alok Rocks Coachella, While Some Other International Artists Cancel 

Alok performs during the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club on Saturday, April 12, 2025, in Indio, Calif. (AP) 
Alok performs during the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club on Saturday, April 12, 2025, in Indio, Calif. (AP) 
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Brazilian DJ Alok Rocks Coachella, While Some Other International Artists Cancel 

Alok performs during the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club on Saturday, April 12, 2025, in Indio, Calif. (AP) 
Alok performs during the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club on Saturday, April 12, 2025, in Indio, Calif. (AP) 

Brazilian DJ Alok brought a beaming blend of electronic dance beats to the stage on Saturday at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival despite the growing fears of international artists about the future of performing in America.

"For me as a Brazilian, it's always been hard to get a visa. So, for us, it didn't change much," Alok told Reuters during an interview backstage at Coachella, held in Southern California.

"But, of course, for Europe and others, they changed the rules, right?" he added.

Alok heard about other Coachella performances being cancelled in 2025 due to visa issues and feels fortunate that he made it to the festival when other international artists could not.

"For us, we were very lucky. The team were all here from LA, so that was amazing," he said.

In the first week of April, British singer FKA Twiggs, who was scheduled to perform at Coachella, cancelled her performance.

She said that she was bowing out due to "visa issues" on the social media platform Instagram.

She also cancelled her entire North American tour.

With the Trump administration rapidly cancelling the international student visas of pro-Palestinian activists as well as revoking the legal status for 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, international music artists have also found that they are not immune.

In March, British punk rock band member of UK Subs, Alvin Gibbs, shared on the social media platform Facebook that they were allegedly denied entry into the United States while traveling to their performance at LA Punk Invasion 2025.

Despite evolving visa policies looming, the music producer Alok did not fret about the future during his set. He moved his music to the next level.

While Alok traditionally uses LED projections to create rows of artificial background dancers for his music sets, for his Coachella set, he evolved the performance with live performers dancing to his beats.

"It was very challenging. I'm very used to doing a lot of crazy stuff in the shows, very integrating with new technology, but this one for sure was the most difficult," Alok said.

"We're dealing with human technology and the synchronizing. But it's also something beautiful because once we are connected in the same synergy, same purpose, we can do stuff that is extraordinary," he added, noting a desire to keep performance human instead leaning too much on artificial intelligence.

"Art is made by soul," the singer said, later adding his appreciation for his guest performer, American singer Ava Max.

"We have a song that works super well and she's a rock star, so she did great. And we also have this classic song 'Hear Me Now' and we did a new version for Coachella. I'm just going with the flow."

Alok is best known for that 2016 single and for his 2024 album, "The Future is Ancestral," which features nine dance tracks mixed with indigenous songs, some of which have been sung for centuries by Brazilian tribes.